Most observers could look at a street like the those in the photos shown here and recognize that these are great streets. But what, specifically, is it that makes these streets great? The sidewalks? The trees?

The purpose of this Design Tutorial is to provide a systematic description of the primary elements of streets and a guide to the key physical characteristics of these elements with an eye to the question: “what makes a street great?”

The Design Tutorial explores the five principal elements of streets: street wall, pedestrian realm, overhead area, vehicle realm and subsurface area. Key characteristics of each are identified with further links to planning and design details for each of the key characteristics.